Monday, November 25
Apple has reached a deal with Amazon to remove ads from competitors' pages for Apple devices. This agreement aims to provide cleaner search results and product pages for Apple products compared to those of its rivals. According to reports, the pages for Apple products have fewer ads, while the product pages of other companies like Samsung are overloaded with recommended items from other brands.
The US smartphone market saw a 5% decline in the third quarter of 2023, despite a 21% increase in shipments, driven by Apple's iPhone 15 series. Apple accounted for 34% of all iPhone sales in the US during the quarter. However, analysts note that fewer users are opting for upgrades to the latest models, instead choosing to buy older generations or refurbished devices.
Hughes Communications India (HCI) will deploy its Managed Dual LTE/4G high-availability solution for cement companies ACC and Ambuja Cement Limited. The solution will improve network reliability and provide backup to the SDWAN network in the manufacturing units. HCI will provide a turnkey solution with setup, installation, and support for all sites.
Fitbit, owned by Google, has stopped selling its products in several countries across Europe, Asia, and Latin America. However, the company will continue to support its wearables with software updates and customer services. The move is said to align Fitbit's hardware portfolio with Google's regional availability. Auto-renewals of Fitbit Premium memberships in the affected countries will stop from October 24, 2023.
Elon Musk's OpenAI has launched the chatbot Grok to compete with other AI systems. OpenAI's Sam Altman took a dig at Grok, promoting their own GPTs. Altman suggested that Musk could have used the GPT builder instead of creating a separate company. This led to a meme fest on social media, with users joking about the situation. Musk reacted with fire and laughing emojis to a screenshot of Grok's response to a vulgar question.
Humane, an AI company founded by ex-Apple engineers, has launched its first hardware, the AI Pin. The small square device can be pinned onto clothes and is powered by OpenAI's GPT-4 and Microsoft's AI models. The AI Pin costs $699 and has a monthly fee of $24 for a Humane subscription. It features a small projector that can display icons and text on the user's palm. The device can be activated through voice, touch, gesture, or the laser ink display and offers various AI tools and features. Shipping begins in early 2024.
Users of OpenAI's ChatGPT experienced issues on November 8, with error messages indicating the system was at capacity. OpenAI identified and fixed the problem, and the chatbot is now fully functional. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman acknowledged the high demand for the new feature, which was unveiled at the company's developer conference. Altman apologized for the temporary outage and mentioned that service instability may continue due to high load. OpenAI also announced an improved language model, GPT-4 Turbo, and the availability of GPTs for users to create customized chatbots without coding.
A recent survey by workplace productivity platform, Slack, has identified the dominant personas in the Indian workplace. The survey found that India has the highest number of Problem Solvers and Expressionists globally, who are driving technological transformation and adoption of AI. However, there are fewer Detectives and Road Warriors in India compared to other markets. The survey highlights the importance of fostering diverse teams to enhance productivity.
Reliance Jio has launched a new Rs 866 plan that includes a free subscription to Swiggy, a food delivery service. The plan offers 2GB data per day, unlimited calling, and unlimited 5G data for 84 days. Users will also receive benefits such as free home delivery on food and Instamart orders, no surge fees, extra discounts on restaurants, and a discount on Genie deliveries. Additionally, Jio is offering a cashback of Rs 50 on the recharge of Rs 866 during the festive season.
The ICC Men's Cricket World Cup match between India and South Africa saw Indian batsman Virat Kohli equal Sachin Tendulkar's record of hitting 49 centuries in ODI matches. The livestream of the match on Disney Hotstar broke the viewership record, with 4.4 crore concurrent users. This surpassed the previous record set during the FIFA World Cup 2022 final match between Argentina and France. Disney+ Hotstar is also offering free streaming of the ongoing Cricket World Cup and recently concluded Asia Cup. The upcoming season of the Pro Kabaddi League will also be available for free streaming on Disney+ Hotstar.
